剑指面试题25. 合并两个排序的链表 （单独处理头结点和辅助头结点两种算法）

解法1：头结点单独处理

struct ListNode* mergeTwoLists(struct ListNode* l1, struct ListNode* l2){
    if (l1 == NULL)
        return l2;
    if (l2 == NULL)
        return l1;

    struct ListNode *head, *ptr;   //不是struct ListNode* head, ptr
    if (l1->val <= l2->val) {      //头指针单独处理
        head = l1;
        l1 = l1->next;
    } else {
        head = l2;
        l2 = l2->next;
    }
    ptr = head;

    while (l1 && l2) {
         if (l1->val <= l2->val) {
            ptr->next = l1;
            l1 = l1->next;
        } else {
            ptr->next = l2;
            l2 = l2->next;
        }
        ptr = ptr->next;
    }
    if (l1)
        ptr->next = l1;
    if (l2)
        ptr->next = l2;
    
    return head;
}

解法2：创建辅助头结点，避免冗余代码

struct ListNode* mergeTwoLists(struct ListNode* l1, struct ListNode* l2){
    if (l1 == NULL)
        return l2;
    if (l2 == NULL)
        return l1;

    struct ListNode *head = (struct ListNode*)calloc(1, sizeof(struct ListNode));
    struct ListNode *ptr = head;
    while (l1 && l2) {
         if (l1->val <= l2->val) {
            ptr->next = l1;
            l1 = l1->next;
        } else {
            ptr->next = l2;
            l2 = l2->next;
        }
        ptr = ptr->next;
    }
    if (l1)
        ptr->next = l1;
    if (l2)
        ptr->next = l2;
    
    ptr = head;
    head = head->next;
    free(ptr);

    return head;
}

注：对于头结点不确定的算法，都可以借助辅助头结点来简化逻辑，减少冗余代码，但是最后别忘了释放辅助头结点，不然会引起内存泄漏。